


our bodies, ourselves

by tomatocages (kittu9)



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Superpowers, hunger, serious metabolism is serious business
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-08
Updated: 2011-10-08
Packaged: 2017-10-24 10:24:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/262420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittu9/pseuds/tomatocages
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wally can't help being hungry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	our bodies, ourselves

 

Being a speedster takes a lot of energy—he has, like, a serious metabolism, okay?—but coupled with being a teenager, and the fact that he's hitting actual growth spurts now, means Wally needs to eat almost constantly. He acts like it’s no big deal, and Uncle Barry is really understanding about stopping for post-heroic snacks on the way home from fighting the bad guys, but it's really getting ridiculous. Even with weekly shopping trips to Costco, his mom can barely keep the pantry stocked, and the way Wally can plow through three helpings of dinner in fifteen minutes has his dad making comments. Less of the "growing boy" variety, more of the "eating us out of house and home" type. Wally is too embarrassed to reveal that three helpings in fifteen minutes is him going slow, so all he can do is laugh along when his family jokes about his speedy appetite.  

He's not being greedy.  

School's the worst, because there's this heinous rule about not eating between class periods, and not having food outside of the cafeteria. Wally tries, he really tries to keep from eating his lunch before the end of second period (he's supposed the eat during fifth. It's impossible to wait that long, even under threat of mystery meat and succotash). But no matter how much breakfast he scarfs down, he still finds himself fantasizing about his sandwich during World Civilization. His teacher is cool about Wally's eating in class the first few times it happens, but eventually it's too much for even the mild-mannered Mr. Harris to handle, and the whole class is given a lecture about respecting their fellow students and the learning environment. The speech is so totally aimed at Wally, and everyone knows it. 

He tries waiting 'till fifth, because Mr. Harris is actually a cool dude and Wally can see how food is a distraction (he's distracted no matter if he's eating or not, thinking about missions and girls and if he remembered to pack an extra granola bar). He tries one whole day of waiting for legit mealtimes. By three-fifteen, he's so dizzy that he can't remember his locker combination (11-9-34, Carl Sagan's frickin' birthday) and the thought of running home makes his palms sweat. He ate lunch hours ago and he's positive there aren't any energy bars in his bag. He is out of singles and there is no way anyone in his World Civ class will lend him money for the vending machines. After he catches himself casually licking his fingers and checking the pockets of his hoody for crumbs, Wally knows he's in big trouble.  

He almost calls his mom. He actually does call Uncle Barry, who recognizes that Wally is seriously upset, even if Wally is too embarrassed to say why; when Wally asks for a ride, Barry's silence says a lot of things Wally does not want to decipher. 

When his uncle pulls up (miraculously on time), Wally doesn't even say hello before digging through the stash of fruit leather and Gatorade Barry keeps under the back seat. He is so hungry he wants to cry (he doesn't actually cry, 'cause he's a superhero, not a wuss, but he doesn't ever want to feel that empty, that desperate again). 

Barry waits for Wally to slow down a little, and then he drives to McDonald’s and buys him three McDoubles with everything and two orders of fries. (He looks at the way Wally falls on the food and goes back for a salad, muttering something about a balanced diet.)

Wally explains the whole story—how he’s hungry all the time, how he can’t stop thinking about food, how he got called out for eating in class, how he tried to pretend he was normal—and he tries to ignore the stricken look on his uncle’s face. Barry became the Flash when he was fully-grown (so did Jay). Kick-starting a metabolism that’s just starting to slow down isn’t anything like ramping up a teenaged one, but nobody, least of all Wally, even thought about that part of the equation when he got out his chemistry set. 

Barry takes him home (in the car, even though Wally’s knees are starting to feel solid again, and he has enough energy to fidget with his seatbelt the whole way back). His mom is pissed he didn’t call home, but Uncle Barry sits down at the kitchen table to have a talk with her about dietary needs and meal planning, so even though it makes Wally feel like a chick with an eating disorder, that’s one problem down and a bajillion to go. He grabs a sleeve of Oreos out of the cabinet and makes a tactical retreat to his room, stopping in the bathroom to weigh himself. Even after the McDonald’s run, he’s lost something like three pounds.

They can’t take away his super-speed, no matter how complicated his metabolism makes things. It’s a small comfort; small enough that he starts reading another Feynman biography instead of starting on his homework, careful not to get chocolate crumbs stuck in the spine.

There are fifteen cookies in a sleeve of Oreos (at 53 calories each, that adds up to 795 calories). Wally eats them all.  


End file.
